Saturday, October 30, 2010

Red & Aqua for Blogger's Quilt Festival

What's my favorite quilt of the moment? I guess it's this one, and the ones to come from do. Good Stitches, a virtual quilting bee for charity. This quilt is an expression of love, of friendship and of generosity. And, it's not really "mine" at all.

I made my first quilt, the Colorbrick, at the beginning of this year. Course, once a blogger catches the quilting bug the quilting bees start calling. "Come play with us!" "Look, you can use my fabric!" "We'll help you make a quilt!" The lure is strong, but something stopped me.

Fact is, I don't need many quilts for our house. I have a bonafide quilt-hating-husband (who's otherwise a gem), so my only excuses for making quilts is this bed, that bed and the other. After that, I think my license to quilt (for us) will expire. I've gotta savor the process every time, you know?

Nope, I don't want a quilt for "me" from a quilting bee, but I do want to play. And, then there's this other thing, I'd like to do some good. Help others. Make quilts for people who actually need them. Children that don't have quilting mamas, or aunts, or grandmothers. Yes, a quilting bee for charity would be perfect!

But, I couldn't find one. So, I made one. It's called do. Good Stitches. 10 talented ladies joined me in our first sewing circle called "Love" which makes quilts to be distributed to needy children through Wrap Them in Love. This Red & Aqua Sampler Quilt is our first completed quilt. It was my pleasure to plan, piece and finish it. In the process I learned that differing shades of aqua only enhanced the quilt, that finding bee blocks in the mail for weeks is completely enchanting, and that there are a LOT of people who want to get involved doing some good!

Right now we have 3 active sewing circles and 2 more that are to launch December or January. If you'd like to get involved, please drop by our group page on Flickr to get the gooey details and fill out our new members form. You can also see bits of the 7 other quilts that are currently in process!

What a great idea! This sounds very similar to the Linus Project..which I am would love to work with too (http://www.projectlinus.org/). Thanks for sharing this gorgeous quilt with us (and now back to quilt hopping!)